Attacks and Releases
Standard: Uniform precision in ensemble execution
Corrective actions:
• Insist on eye contact
• Clarify pronunciation at attack and release points
• Isolate and rehearse separately problematic attacks and releases
• Use gestures to show style of attack and release

Phrasing
Standard: Total compliance with established phrasing
Corrective actions:
• Identify to and from patterns
• Insist on breathing only at designated places
• Stress need for adequate inhalation and controlled 
emission of breath
• Deliberately slow down demanding phrases to develop 
stamina and pacing
• Make sure that singers do not breathe in obtrusive 
places when they are employing staggered breathing

Intonation
Standards: Accurate and timely movement to pitches 
      especially within chords
      Consistent preservation of pitch and key with in  
     each section
Corrective Actions:
• Insist on proper posture and adequate support
• Keep ensemble vocal production lyrical and forward in placement. Avoid chesty, throaty singing
• Make sure vowels are correctly and uniformly pronounced
• Guard against “dipping” into successive notes on the 
same pitch
• Beware of ensemble tendency to overstep descending 
intervals and understep ascending intervals
• Avoid “key fatigue” form singing in one key too long
• Experiment with raised and lowered keys, especially 
when a particular vocal section appears to have tessitura 
or register problems
• Vary accompaniment by having the keyboard played an 
octave higher or lower or by using staccato
• For accompanied choral works, switch to a cappella performance to develop ensemble pitch awareness
• Make sure outer vocal parts are tuned and then tune inner parts

Tonal Intensity
Standard: Continued vibrancy of tone
Corrective actions:
• Insist on energized consonants and rounded vowels to 
prevent “dead” tones
• Stress the necessity for increased support when singers are singing softly
• Ask for hushed rather than a soft response
• Strive for controlled, resonant singing of loud passages. Do not permit shouting or blatancy

Rhythm and tempo
Standards: Precise execution of note values
      Accurate initiation and maintenance of conductor’s 
      tempo
Corrective actions:
• Conductor must do score study with a metronome
• Do not accept rhythmic discrepancies between 
individual singers
• To define exact moment of entry for each note, request choir to perform music staccato
• Practice the opening measure of the composition at 
various speeds to establish ensemble compliance
• When you encounter difficulty in maintaining a steady 
tempo, ask singers to sub-divide while count singing

Dynamics
Standards: Observance of all dynamic markings
      Clarity of contrast between dynamic levels
      Smooth control of crescendos and 
      decrescendos
Corrective actions:
• Clarify which dynamic levels are required and then move to each marking and rehearse for accuracy in volume
• Verbally warn singers of upcoming dynamic markings as they perform the music
• Specify exactly where crescendos and decrescendos begin and end. For extended ones, ask singers to write in dynamic levels as signposts above designated notes
• Assign numeric values to dynamic degrees

Articulation
Standards: Observance of all articulation 
     markings
      Clarity of contrast between required 
      articulations
Corrective actions:
• Demonstrate required articulations. Show the difference between accents and stresses, staccato and marcato, etc.
• Verbally warn singers of upcoming articulations as they perform the music

Blend
Standard: Uniformity of ensemble sound; no 
      voices stick out
Corrective actions:
• Insist on smooth, composite sound, especially when vocal sections have “solos”
• Avoid edgy or “pinched” tone quality. Request singers incorporate a “yawn” feeling into their singing.
• Work with sections down to quartets or even duets to achieve uniformity of sound
• Place opposing voice qualities next to each other to avoid polarity of differences 

Balance
Standards: General equalization of tonal weight 
      between vocal sections
      Sectional sensitivity to dynamic give-and-take
Corrective actions:
• To achieve weight, require all sections to match volume with that produced by the weakest vocal part
• Specify places where musical material should be brought out or subordinated by individual sections
• To promote awareness of give-and-take in rehearsal, instruct performers to sing words only when they are presenting thematic material. Otherwise, when presenting subsidiary material, they should hum or sing on specified vowel

Gordon, Lewis (1989) Choral Director’s Rehearsal and Performance Guide. West Nyack, New York: Parker Publishing Company.